Okay, so I am sure you are asking "what is a WordCamp and what does it have to do with WordPress? (and how does that help my business?)".
Here's the definition:
"WordCamp is a conference that focuses on everything WordPress.WordCamps are informal, community-organized events that are put together by WordPress users like you. Everyone from casual users to core developers participate, share ideas, and get to know each other."
WordPress WordCamps happen across the world, typically in major cities, however, they can be larger, such as WordCamp Europe. July 2017 saw the WordCamp Edinburgh Convention. A 'two track' event, which means throughout each day two sets of talks on at any one time covering a broad range of WordPress, content and website related topics.
How a WordCamp helps your business and WordPress training
The internet and web development is a fast moving, and ever changing landscape and the more your web provider knows about the latest changes, the better placed they are to pass that insight on to your project.
WordCamps provide us, your training provider with the latest insight and best practice ideas and views on website creation, content marketing, effective web design processes (so your website gets produced faster and better).
Highlights from WordCamp Edinburgh
The event was held at CodeBase located at the foot of Edinburgh Castle. Two tracks and plenty of coffee and refreshments to keep everyone energised. Speakers for the two-day event were from around 10 different countries, giving a very international feel.
Day 1.
Track 2. After the welcome and opening remarks, I attended Kat Christofer's talk on 'How to maximise productivity while working remotely'. This was very relevant as I work with a wide range of colleagues across the country.
Then, still in Track 2 was Mark Wilkinson talking about 'WordPress Actions and Filters'. A very clear and comprehensive presentation and thankfully not too code heavy.
Track 1. 'Agile development for the self-employed'. By Daniel Casserly. Very interesting talk, I am keen on agile development processes. Little and often communications, milestones and sprints. Which aim to provide efficient projects that meet the required goals.
Track 1. 'Supercharge your WordPress site's speed' by Kathir Sid Vel. Some great performance ideas and metrics. Notes on plugin speed, server speed and optimisations.
Then the lightning talks and final day 1 keynote 'Are Twitter threads killing blogs?' By Franz Vitulli. An eye-catching title to this talk. Insight into social media and how it can work to power blog traffic rather than take traffic away. Ideas about conversations and interactions - creating your voice online.
After a very rainy and wet walk back to my hotel and a still rainy return, day 2 was equally as engaging with a broad range of topics and speakers.
Day 2.
Opening keynote: Using WordPress to create social change by Bridget Hamilton. Some great Content Marketing ideas and insight into a worthy cause.
Track2. The Unbearable Likeness of Design by Sarah Semark. Looking ahead to new design trends, predictions include; textures, hand drawn elements, typographical inspiration from the print world, oversized type, drop-caps and colour tints to images. Design elements which I have already implemented on web projects.
Track 2. Progressive Enhancement - more than just 'it works without Javascript' by Ben Usher Smith. Simplicity and looking to extremes were key takeaways here. Smart design, mobile and accessible first.
I missed the last part of day 2 due to train timings. However, I look forward to catching up on any missed talks when they get added to WordCamp TV - https://wordpress.tv/.
Find out more about our tailored WordPress Training sessions.
"Belinda [WP North East] prepared thoroughly in advance for each session, asking questions about my expectations, so that no training time was wasted. Her instruction was clear and very informative and she was prepared to accommodate my specific requirements taking a flexible approach to content during a couple of sessions enabling me to successfully launch my first website on schedule."
K. Welford. Designer
Two of my favourite places in Edinburgh.
The Takeaway
Keeping up-to-date with technology and the web is a priority for all businesses. The webs is a fast moving space with an ever changing landscape. Attending WordCamps helps me to hear the latest thoughts and insight around digital strategy and find new ways and ideas to work with and get the most from WordPress as a digital publishing platform. My clients and training session attendees can all benefit from this.